Life Stinks
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: July 26, 1991 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
8
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It has its laughs, but it’s a more thoughtful film, more softhearted toward its characters. It’s warm and poignant. Read full review
75
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The movie takes a while to hit its stride, and its conclusion is fairly slapdash, but somewhere in between are some of the funniest bits of low slapstick Brooks has ever come up with, and an overall uncloying sweetness helps to save much of the rest. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneDave Kehr
But if Brooks doesn't get the sting of reality he's looking for in Life Stinks, he does succeed with the film's fantasy elements-most memorably, a dance sequence set to Cole Porter's Easy to Love and performed by Warren and Brooks in a colorful used-clothing warehouse. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Life Stinks will never stand with the classics -- it's basically a diversion -- but its plea for economic equality is well taken. And Brooks, after years of lousy movies, finally seems back on sure footing. [27 July 1991, p.C3]
70
Los Angeles TimesMichael Wilmington
It's a risky movie, and an uneven one. But the impulses behind it are darker and stronger than in most of his previous comedies. Good or bad--and Life Stinks definitely has a weak, undeveloped side--I liked it. Read full review
70
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
The grim, black humour of yore sporadically breaks through the glossy sheen, providing moments of vintage vitriol. Read full review
63
Rolling StoneAndy Greene
Life Stinks isn't nearly as bad as legend suggests, and its even won a tiny cult following. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesJohn Hartl
The script may be a fantasy about late-19th-century American poverty, derived more from old movies than fresh observations. But at least Brooks doesn't sweep the subject under the rug, and just enough of his jokes sting. [26 July 1991, p.20]
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